Bumbling Along

I wondered why this bottle gentian had a black center, and then realized it was a bumblebee enjoying some nectar that it had worked hard to reach. The flowers around it show how  tightly closed the petals usually are.

      

 

Once the bee has left, the flower shuts closed again, making it only available to bumblebees that are strong enough to force the petals apart. Smaller insects don't get to enjoy the feast - an understated "Bumblebees Only" sign.

Nature's Trellis

Look at how beautifully tree roots work to hold the soil and shoreline slope in place - this is more obvious to us with the lake level being down for so long.

This is natural beauty that we seldom see

Pipewort Display

I noticed what looked like a cluster of small snowballs in the grasses at the water's edge, which was really curious in September, so I just had to get closer ...  it was a delightful meadow of seven angled pipeworts (Eriocaulon aquaticum)

The common name describes the beautiful 7-angled spiral of the flower stem - if you look closely at the pic below, you can see the lines in the green stem forming a gentle twist.

The ball of whitish flowers reminds me of the Math construction kit called Zometool

Don't these look like pipeworts to you? The rods also have twists to them!

Prepping for Winter

Winter buds begin -

Tightly packed, encased in gel

To burst forth in  spring.